"Oh dear, look at my brain! Magistrate, please come in quickly!" Jiang Ling slapped her forehead and hurriedly opened her front door, gesturing for Sui He to lead the magistrate inside.
She then ran to the back and pushed the cart in. There wasn't an extra table in the house, so Jiang Ling hurriedly took the table and chairs off the cart and said, "Your Excellency, please forgive me. I just returned from Changning Town and haven't tidied up the house yet. Please forgive me!"
“It’s alright, it’s alright…” Magistrate Duan waved his hand and said.
"This humble woman is ignorant and does not know why you, Magistrate, have graced us with your presence!" Jiang Ling poured the mint water that was originally meant for Lu Cheng into the teapot, and asked while pouring water for the village chief and Magistrate Duan.
It turned out that Magistrate Duan had just taken office when he encountered the problem of drought. In recent days, Magistrate Duan had traveled to almost all of the twenty villages and towns under his jurisdiction, and the answer he received was the same: drought, not a drop of rain had fallen, and the crops were almost dead.
Magistrate Duan knew that if it didn't rain for ten days or half a month, there would definitely be no harvest this year, and there would be refugees running around. If it really got out of hand, it would reach the ears of the prefectural governor.
Forget about future promotions; I doubt I can even keep my job this year.
When Magistrate Duan was at his wit's end, he visited Dahua Village and happened to run into the village chiefs of Lujia Village and Dahua Village discussing something.
Upon approaching and asking, I learned that the two people were discussing matters related to water sources.
Upon further inquiry, it was discovered that the people of Lujia Village had already solved their water problem themselves and were now helping the people of Dahua Village find a water source free of charge.
Magistrate Duan was quite shocked when he heard this. After asking repeatedly, he learned that the person who proposed this idea was actually Jiang from Lujia Village.
Thinking of this, he quickly told the village chief of Lujia Village to go back and find Jiang Shi first, while he wanted to see if Jiang Yaojie's method of finding a water source would work.
Upon hearing this, the village chief hurriedly got into his car and rushed back to Lujia Village. However, Jiang Ling was selling mint water in Changning Town at the time. The village chief searched the entire village but couldn't find Jiang Ling. So he simply waited for her to return at the door of her house.
And that's how the scene Jiang Ling saw when she returned came about: the village chief pacing anxiously back and forth in front of Jiang's house with his hands behind his back.
"Madam Jiang, you have raised your son to be truly outstanding!" Magistrate Duan said, taking a sip of the mint water in his teacup.
"Huh? What's this new thing? It's so refreshing and cool!" Magistrate Duan suddenly widened his eyes, looking at the empty teacup with an incredulous expression.
Magistrate Duan was slightly overweight. Although he had traveled here by carriage, he had just followed several villagers from Dahua Village and Jiang Yaojie on a journey to find a water source, traversing almost every mountain and valley.
He was exhausted and hot, but he knew he was the local official in charge, so how could he complain in front of the people? He could only silently endure it and pray that the water source would be discovered soon.
After discovering the water source, I thought I would go and have a drink, but the villagers rushed back to report the good news. I couldn't keep them waiting, so I had no choice but to bite the bullet and go down the mountain with them.
While they were in the carriage, Jiang Yaojie was beside them, but there was only enough water in the kettle for Magistrate Duan to drink. Magistrate Duan couldn't very well drink all the water in the kettle in front of a child and not share it with him.
I endured it all the way.
Upon seeing the water, he naturally didn't refuse and gulped it down, only to discover that this water was completely different from what he had drunk before.
“This is called peppermint water, and it’s what this woman went to sell in Changning Town today,” Jiang Ling said.
"Oh? Selling? It seems you do have something special, Jiang!" Magistrate Duan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"You flatter me, sir. I had no land after the divorce. If it weren't for the village chief's kindness in letting me live in the old house for free, I think I would have starved to death with these four children long ago!" As she spoke, Jiang Ling deliberately lowered her eyebrows and pretended to look extremely sad.
"Yaojie's mother, what... what are you doing saying these things in front of the county magistrate?" This was, after all, a matter within Lu Family Village, and the village chief felt somewhat embarrassed, frowning in displeasure as he reprimanded her.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. Jiang must have some extraordinary qualities to raise such an outstanding son!” Magistrate Duan interrupted the village chief.
"Magistrate, may I ask what brings you here?" Jiang Ling asked, seeing that the time was right.
"To be honest, I'd like to borrow your son for a while!" Magistrate Duan said, his gaze falling on Jiang Yaojie.
“My twenty villages and towns are now almost all plagued by drought. Fortunately, your son, Jiang, has a way to find water sources. I just heard that it was your son’s suggestion to dig ditches and put bamboo in them. I didn’t expect that he could come up with so many ideas at such a young age!” As he spoke, the county magistrate’s eyes never left Jiang Yaojie.
“This… Yaojie is already an adult. I would like to hear his own opinion. If he does not agree, I hope you will not blame me!” Finding a water source is not an easy task. It is said that there are wild animals in the depths of the mountains. Jiang Ling does not want her son to take this risk.
“Jiang! The magistrate is flattering your son!” The village chief was so shocked by Jiang Ling’s reply that his heart nearly jumped out of his chest, and he broke out in a cold sweat.
He never expected that Jiang would be so bold as to refuse the magistrate's request in front of everyone.
"Yes, Madam Jiang, you are right. I was being presumptuous. Jiang Yaojie, are you willing to agree to this?" Magistrate Duan asked.
“Your Excellency, you are an official, and we are commoners. In our hearts, you are like a cloud in the sky, unreachable to us. How dare we disobey your words?”
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